When Diane Chandler found a unit in Surrey’s Foxglove supportive housing building in 2023, the main thing her children hoped for was safety.
The 60-year-old had spent years battling depression and addiction, surviving on disability payments as she moved between temporary shelters and her car.
And the Foxglove — a multi-use building designed to house people living with complex mental health and substance use problems — came praised by municipal, provincial and federal politicians, including former Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum and B.C. Premier David Eby.
But none of those protections would save Chandler, who died from an overdose of cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl in her room in the Foxglove almost a year ago.
Adding to the pain of their mother’s loss, Chandler’s children say they discovered weeks after she died that her body wasn’t found for 11 days — overlooked in what the CBC has learned was a case of mistaken identity.
“I just hoped that she was safe,” Chandler’s son, Tyler Gibbs, told the CBC.
“If she was struggling with something, there’d be someone to help her. Just to talk with her and help her out with that. I think the main thing for me is just making sure it was a safe place, is what it is for me. That was what was most important — that it’s safe.”
‘It makes her life seem worthless’
Diane Chandler’s death is one of eight Foxglove overdose deaths described in critical incident reports sent to B.C. Housing obtained by CBC through freedom of information.
Beyond the shocking revelations regarding the delay in finding Chandler’s body, the documents detail the housing agency’s concern that the deaths might make their way into the media.
Chandler’s family say the tragedy also raises important but thorny questions as to when a permissive approach to housing the most vulnerable people in B.C. communities borders on enabling addiction.
Although a manager with RainCity Housing and Support Society — the nonprofit organization which operates the Foxglove — told Tyler Gibbs in an email that the agency was “deeply ashamed” by what happened, Gibbs and his sister say B.C. Housing has never reached out to them.
Carley Gibbs says her mother — a Canucks fan who was devoted to her children — deserved better.
“It makes her life seem worthless. People who have mental health problems and who have drug addiction are not worthless,” the 29-year-old said in an interview.
“And the way that our systems put them into these housings and just let them live is not how people get better. People need action and counselling, and active support, not just a roof over their heads. Just because they’re in the building doesn’t mean that they’re safe.”
‘Supportive housing works’
B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon offered his condolences to the family after CBC contacted the ministry about Chandler’s case and the deaths at Foxglove.
He suggested recent changes to the province’s residential tenancy regulations will ensure greater safety for residents by allowing supportive care staff to perform wellness checks by entering suites without permission.
But he also said the complex nature of problems that land people in buildings like the Foxglove means they will often be more vulnerable to ignoring rules and dying behind closed doors.
“Supportive housing works, it’s not a question of whether it works or not,” Kahlon said.
“The challenge for us is that with toxic drug supply, with mental health, with addiction, the need for people to use continues to be there. The challenge is not whether it’s the housing or not, the challenge is the mental illness and addiction that we’re all trying to grapple with.”
Eby was housing minister when he celebrated the Foxglove’s opening alongside McCallum and Surrey Centre Liberal MP Randeep Sarai, announcing $5 million in federal funding, $25 million from the province and an annual operating cost of $3.2 million.
“Foxglove is one of the first complex-care sites to open as part of the province’s first-of-its-kind housing program,” said a news release at the time, detailing a partnership between RainCity, B.C. Housing and Fraser Health to provide enhanced support and counselling.
In addition to nurses, social workers and peer workers, the building’s 100 homes and 30 emergency shelter spaces offer overdose prevention services, cooking and meal supports, psychiatric care and recovery coaching.
‘Might be some media interest ‘
According to the documents obtained by CBC, the Foxglove’s first overdose death occurred a little more than three weeks later — on May 17, 2022.
The next death occurred around 12 a.m. on May 27.
After the second death, a B.C. Housing employee sent colleagues a copy of a critical incident report, warning there “might be some media interest due to the newness of the building, complex care association and the other Foxglove OD a couple of weeks ago.”
But the questions never came.
The documents returned to CBC through freedom of information don’t include reports for 2023, although a separate FOI issued to a private individual earlier this year indicates that there were three suspected overdose deaths that year.
As 2024 began, the FOI documents say separate overdose deaths occurred at the Foxglove on March 23 and 24.
Less than a month later, on April 20th, 2024, Chandler was last seen alive — according to a coroner’s report — “by way of CCTV cameras at the housing complex.”
‘I was also really scared’
Carley Gibbs says she was “excited” to learn her mother had found a permanent home at the Foxglove after leaving another shelter where she felt unsafe.
She visited Chandler in her room, which was papered with the colouring books she loved to fill. Her mother seemed happy, but Carley had misgivings.
She says she saw signs of open drug use everywhere.
Fighting back tears, Carley told CBC she had often tried to talk to her mother about going into rehab, but “she didn’t think she had a problem, so I had to be happy for her.”
“But I was also really scared that I would lose her,” she said.
“Because I knew that the facility she was going into was completely surrounded by other people who were in a similar situation. And I was really scared that being around all those people would create a toxic environment. That part did really worry me.”
‘The family is quite upset’
After Chandler was caught on camera on April 20, B.C. Housing documents say Foxglove staff “signed off on visually seeing” her on two more occasions — April 26 and April 28 — “when, in fact, it was someone who looked similar.”
“Staff did a room check on the deceased’s suite May 1,” a description of the incident reads.
“Staff knocked and entered the tenant’s room because there was no answer. The client was found deceased.”
The documents say staff followed up with a wellness check on the woman whom they had mistaken for Chandler — she was also discovered deceased, another apparent overdose.
The coroner’s report says that when Chandler’s body was finally discovered, she was sitting in a chair. There was no sign of foul play, and drug pipes were discovered nearby.
“The family is quite upset and may escalate the situation, including potential media,” the B.C. Housing documents say.
“There has been an issue with casual staff who are less familiar with the residents’ names and faces. They have been instructed not to sign off on wellness checks unless they are certain of a person’s identity.”
‘We did not take this oversight lightly’
Tyler Gibbs says his uncle told him Chandler died after he was contacted by RCMP.
But the 33-year-old says the family was initially led to believe she died close to the day her body was found on May 1, 2024.
They didn’t learn about the delay in finding Chandler’s body until she was cremated, when they were told the coroner believed Chandler had died on April 20 — 11 days earlier.
Gibbs says he asked Foxglove for an explanation. He shared the response from Foxglove program manager Charles Jones.
“I will be candid with you about an unfortunate oversight on our part. A staff member was mistakenly identifying Diane as another resident, which led to her being incorrectly marked off as seen on our safety checklist,” Jones wrote.
“We did not take this oversight lightly and feel deeply ashamed. We are committed to the safety and dignity of all our residents and sincerely regret that this situation occurred. Please accept our heartfelt apology for the oversight and any distress or uncertainty it has caused.”
‘There are people in there who matter’
A year after Chandler’s death, both children say they are still struggling with grief, compounded by the outstanding questions over accountability.
“It was heartbreaking to go through that. Whether that’s a mother or father or any family member, losing someone to a drug overdose, it hurts. It sucks. And hearing that they could have been better at preventing it, hearing more details about it,” said Tyler Gibbs
“Hopefully, they’ll learn from this.”
Carley Gibbs says it’s important for her to make Chandler’s “life and voice known. She tried her best.”
“There are people in there who matter. They came from somewhere,” she said.
“They need to feel supported — and without that, they just don’t know what to do, which is a really scary place to be in.”
The last time Carley Gibbs saw her mother alive was a few months earlier for a birthday celebration at Troll’s in Horseshoe Bay, a cherished place where Chandler went with her family as a kid.
“It was just such an honest experience,” Gibbs said.
“She didn’t seem like she, in a month or two, she wouldn’t be here anymore. It’s hard to look back on that now because it was such a happy time. But I’m so glad that I have that memory.”
